The present invention relates to a method and to the corresponding apparatus for the preparation of honeycombs for beekeeping, contributing considerable characteristics of novelty and inventive activity to the currently known method.
The preparation of wax honeycombs so that bees can deposit honey therein has become widespread in recent years as a means of avoiding the need for the bees not only to perform the work of filling the honeycomb with the honey which they produce, but also to prepare their own honeycomb beforehand, which represents a much longer production time and hence a lower yield from the hive of bees.
Amongst currently known methods for solving the said problem is that which comprises the forming of the honeycomb by means of groups of cores of a shape conjugate with the holes on both faces of the honeycomb in suitable apparatus which supplies the wax to the molding region and subsequently enables the honeycomb to be removed and cooled. These honeycombs have to be incorporated in a receiving frame which considerably increases costs and reduces adaptability to hives of different types.
The method and apparatus of the present invention are intended precisely to achieve more economical preparation of the honeycombs, dispensing with the supporting frames or casing and permitting easy adaptation to hives of different types.
In order to achieve its objectives, the present invention provides the continuous molding of the honeycombs for beekeeping in the form of half honeycombs produced between two conveyor belts arranged parallel to one another with a separation slightly greater than the thickness of the honeycomb, as will be explained. In the method of the present invention, as a panel or mold carrying the plurality of cores for forming the cells of a half honeycomb moves on one of the conveyor belts, at the beginning of the region in which the two belts coincide, the spaces situated between the cores are filled with molten wax, provided by external means, the wax adapting itself to all of the spaces between the cores and, in addition, forming a thin plate which connects the spaces between the cores and which will subsequently constitute the plate connecting the various cells of a half honeycomb. After the spaces between cores have been filled, the molded half honeycomb which is in contact, by means of the cells, with the panel carrying the cores and, by means of the base, with the other belt which passes parallel to that carrying the plate of the cores, is cooled. At the end of its travel between the two belts, the half honeycomb will already have solidified sufficiently to be able to be separated from the core-carrying panel which has resilience characteristics.
To improve the filling of the spaces between the cores of resilient material which are intended to form the cells of a honeycomb, a slight transverse separation of the said cores is brought about by mechanical action, creating a larger opening thereof and thus enabling the quantity of wax contained between every two cores to be increased, by virtue of the said partial opening, in comparison with that strictly necessary to form the completed honeycomb cells so that the surplus wax will be projected towards the belt which passes opposite that carrying the cores, enabling the base plate connecting the various cells to be formed so as to correspond to a half honeycomb.
Moreover, to assist the separation of the half honeycomb from the upper conveyor belt once it has been molded and partially cooled, the said belt is heated locally in order to soften the wax of the half honeycomb corresponding to the region of contact with the belt, which can easily be separated. To achieve an additional improvement in the said separation, the present invention provides for the arrangement of a transverse wire which, upon acting on the softened or molten laminar region, brings about a mechanical action for separating the half honeycomb produced.
According to a variant of the present invention, the intermittent operation of the apparatus is converted into continuous operation by virtue of the conversion of the belt carrying the molding cells into a continuous belt unit having projections for forming the half honeycombs over its entire surface, without a break throughout its length, so that the wax is supplied continuously, the lower belt continuously transporting a layer of wax coupled with the moulding projections which, upon acting in combination with the upper belt, permit the production of an element of indeterminate length and with a structure corresponding to that of a half honeycomb, but of indefinite length. At the output of the unit with the two belts, there is a cutting system which enables half honeycombs of the desired length to be produced. The useful length of the half honeycomb may be variable by variation of the cutting length.